My question is:
1. Which format is best to rip blu rays??
2. Which programs do you use for ripping?
3. What players do you use?
4. Is there any lagg by either streaming from computer, internal hard drive hooked in the media player (connected esata), or play off external hard drive (usb 2.0)
5. Currently, I have a 250gb ps3 slim and xbox 360 elite as potential media players. Can i use these systems and save 150-300 bucks from buying a media player? Or should i buy a media player ex. (popbox, boxee, xtreamer pro)

Hello and Welcome to HTS, Ripping is something we don't advocate which is akin to pirating even if it's for your own personal use, plus most Blu-Ray's now have a disc which allows a digital copy which can be played from your PC or PS3.

Quote:

There is to be no discussion of illegal activities such as illegal equipment modifications, boot-legging material, illegal file sharing or any software that contributes to the same. File sharing is NOT permitted. Please do not post links to illegal downloads and do not discuss illegal downloading. There may be some equipment modifications that are legal and we will allow discussion of some of these, but we reserve the right to use our discretion as to what we will allow to be discussed and what we not allow to be discussed. There are some modifications that we would rather not discuss in our forums and we will notify members on a case by case basis when we deem appropriate. If we have questions about it or are unsure of whether it is illegal or not, we will most likely not allow it. Disclaimer: We are not responsible for damage to your equipment or anything you own as a result of any modifications you may attempt to use based on information in this forum. We are not responsible for any harm done to you as a result of the same.

Hello and Welcome to HTS, Ripping is something we don't advocate which is akin to pirating even if it's for your own personal use, plus most Blu-Ray's now have a disc which allows a digital copy which can be played from your PC or PS3.

Wouldn't the backup of a digital disc that you own and use purely for your own viewing be covered under the doctrine of "Fair Use"? I fail to see how this is "akin to pirating" in anyway shape or form, since there is no act of robbery in this case. You own the disc! Who are you robbing, yourself? You are certainly not robbing the copyright holder as long as you don't give your original copy away or sell it.

If not, then I assume no one can talk about DVR use as well, since that is doing the same thing as backing up your own discs. You are copying someone else's copyrighted work to personally view again at a later date. People think of it differently though because it has been an accepted practice, since the creation of the VCR.

Technically, it (breaking copy protection on blu-rays) is still illegal, but we're getting closer to being able to use our legally purchased media in a way that resembles fair use:

The Copyright Office also allowed bypassing the anticopying technology used in DVDs, but only for "documentary filmmaking," noncommercial videos, and educational uses--a ruling that stopped short of allowing Americans to legally make a backup copy for their own use, in case the original DVD gets damaged. It also doesn't apply to making backup copies of video game discs or Blu-ray discs.

That being said, we're making an assumption that the poster is talking about ripping a commercial DVD with copy protection. Circumventing that protection would be illegal, though the ripping of the content would not. If the poster were talking about taking Blu-ray authored content without copy-protection, such as a High Def home Video of his child, and backing it up, I'd recommend ripping to disc image (.iso) if hard drive space isn't a concern for preservation of features w/ Home Theater PCs. If it is, you can use a program like handbrake to recompress, keeping in mind that HB doesn't preserve lossless audio (and incidentally, does not circumvent copy protection).

2. I use imgburn to create all my disc images, and for all my other CD burning needs. It's free, light, fast, and legal.

3. HTPC, though the popcorn hour players will play DVD authored disc images fine. For BR images, the A-series can only play individual .TS files, where the C series is reported to play images complete with menu system (and, if you add a blu-ray drive, will also play commercial DVD and Blu-ray, complete with copy protection, all legally)

5. I'm partial to the popcorn hour players for maximum format support. I've tried the xbox, and have read up on the PS3, and they're just too much of a headache with non-standard formats for me. However, I recently built a Home Theater PC to give me unparalleled codec support, access to flash/silverlight based streaming media, and commercial DVD/Blu-ray playback (all legal). The popcorn hour and other media streamers are quiet, fairly inexpensive, and use little energy, but I needed the everything and the kitchen sink approach for my Home Theater and that meant a HTPC.

As for popbox, boxee, etc. Popbox (from the popcorn hour folks) was released with buggy software and missing features, boxee hasn't even been released yet, and the Xstreamer pro looks like buggy Taiwanese harware hiding behind a glossy website, but I could be wrong.

Wouldn't the backup of a digital disc that you own and use purely for your own viewing be covered under the doctrine of "Fair Use"?

Not trying to be rude, but it really doesn't matter what you think, or I think--it's up to the folks at HTS to decide what will-or-won't be posted here.

Given all the industry focus on copying and sharing (and I won't even use the "p" word) if the HTS guys don't want anyone looking askance at their forum(s) then that is their decision to make, to disallow any discussion of bypassing copy protections.

Not trying to be rude, but it really doesn't matter what you think, or I think--it's up to the folks at HTS to decide what will-or-won't be posted here.

Given all the industry focus on copying and sharing (and I won't even use the "p" word) if the HTS guys don't want anyone looking askance at their forum(s) then that is their decision to make, to disallow any discussion of bypassing copy protections.

I took the question, not as challenging the admins to what should or shouldn't be allowed on their boards, but rather, seeking genuine clarification on what is "fair use".

As previously stated, if you break copy protection of a DVD for non-commercial, documentary, or educational use, than it is consider fair use under the recent ruling. However, no such exceptions exist for blu-ray, so even if you own a copy of the movie, you may not legally break any form of copy protection.

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